The Masquerade
by fudgerice
Summary: "James waited for a moment so he could take in everything about her: how small she seemed now without her heels on, how wild her hair had become from dancing and how flushed her cheeks were - probably due to either drink or embarrassment, but most likely a combination of both." One shot written for hp endurance on tumblr. All rights go to JK Rowling.


**Author's Notes:** Well this really wasn't what I was expecting to come out of that prompt, but here we are! I really wanted to get this finished so I know it's not brilliant, but I love writing these hp endurance challenges too much to care right now (I'll probably return to this in a week or so and edit it to hell). The prompt for this challenge was "Your character attends a masquerade and makes a drunken confession". This could be the last thing I post for a good month or so because I have my exams coming up next week, but hopefully I'll be able to complete the next challenge without too much hassle - I'm warning you now though, just in case. If you're reading this, thank you very much, and I hope I'll be able to post soon.

* * *

Her long, deep red hair tumbled over her left shoulder and her heels clicked along the laminate flooring of the grand house as she made her way, accompanied by Marlene and Mrs Potter, to the ballroom of the Potter home. The cold, winter air was still tickling her arms from being stood outside and she could feel the flush on her cheeks.

"You both look beautiful, my Dears," Mrs Potter said to Marlene, who wore a dark navy blue dress that finished just above her knee and flared out from the wait, with thin straps holding it up. She had her black masquerade mask in one hand and her sparkly black clutch bag in the other.

Lily's champagne coloured dress was floor length and reasonably tight over her top half. Her masquerade mask was of a similar colour to her dress and was lined with small jewels.

When she first received her invitation to Potter's masquerade, she'd thought it was a stupid idea, a typical 'James Potter' thing to do, but the idea had grown on her and she'd ended up quite looking forward to it. They were told that they wouldn't need to wear masquerade gowns, but "formal wear was _obviously_ required".

_Obviously._

They approached a pair of large oak doors and Lily could hear music playing from inside.

"I'll leave you here, girls," Mrs Potter said. "Have a good night, and you know where I am if you need me. It was lovely seeing you, Lily."

Both the girls thanked her and Lily didn't even bother to ask how Mrs Potter had known her name, she just pushed down the handle to open the door. As she stepped inside, she inhaled sharply.

There was streamers and balloons attached to the walls around the room and a gorgeous chandelier hung from the centre of the high ceiling. Lily could see a large table set up at the back of the room with a selection of drinks and glasses to be taken at the guests' wishes and various tables around the edges of the room, which left a space in the middle of the floor for people to dance in, and it seemed around forty people had already taken advantage of it.

The beauty of the room was shocking, and as hard as Lily tried to, she couldn't keep her awe from creeping up onto her face.

"Well well well, my ladies," a voice said, and they turned to see someone who was quite clearly Sirius; judging from his rugged hair and confident stance, wearing a muggle suit with a black jacket, bow tie and simple black mask.

"Sirius Black," said Marlene, her eyebrow quirking up.

"I'm pretty sure the invitation said '_masquerade_'," he said in a smooth voice, "And if I'm not wrong, which I never am, you don't seem to be wearing masks."

Both girls sighed and lifted their masks so they covered their faces. Sirius smiled as came and put his arms around both of their shoulder.

"Now that you're dress adequately, how about I show you lovely ladies around?"

Marlene snorted.

"Piss off, Sirius," she said as she walked away, the movement of her hips catching Sirius' eye for just a second too long, making Lily giggle. He glared slightly in her direction.

"So, how are you liking the future husband's home?" Sirius asked, smirking.

"As if," Lily replied, "There's not a chance in hell I'll be even dating James Potter, never mind marrying him."

Sirius' lips quirked up again as he watched her look away and he knew her gaze had found him across the room. She quickly turned back to look at Sirius.

"Are you sure about that?" he questioned slowly.

"Of course," she said in return, although her brain was telling her otherwise.

He could ask her all the questions he liked, but she'd _never_ admit it, of course.

* * *

Within two hours, Sirius had managed to get enough drink down her to make her slightly more tipsy than she should have been at only ten o'clock, and she seemed to be enjoying the freedom of it.

Sirius, Lily, Remus and Peter were all dancing in the middle of the floor, all masks forgotten, performing a routine choreographed expertly by Peter five minutes prior; after emptying his stomach upstairs, he was much more capable of dancing. As they all jumped round to face the back of the room, James entered and his attention was immediately drawn to them due to the large number of people surrounding them, cheering.

He weaved through everyone until he could see them properly, and the first thing he noticed was the cascade of dark red hair that flowed down over the only female's back: Lily.

He could tell without even seeing her face that it was her; he'd been staring at the back of her head in class for the past six years, and when she turned back to face the front - and consequently him - his breath caught in his throat slightly.

Her cheeks were slightly flushed from a combination of drink and heat and she was giggling whilst throwing her limbs around wildly, and even while she stumbled around in her heels, James couldn't remember a time he'd ever seen her looking more beautiful.

As the song finished, all four of the performers took a bow and everyone clapped and cheered, before the crowd dispersed out again and people began dancing and talking amongst themselves. James made his way over to where his friends were stood and clapped Remus and Sirius on the back.

"I have to tell you, that was spectacular," he mused as Sirius, yet again, took another bow and began clapping himself.

"I've got to agree, James," Lily said as she sat herself down at the table behind them. "Peter, your creativity was superb!"

"Don't tell me Wormy made that up?" said James.

"Sure did," Peter said, glowing with pride and the colour of too much drink. "Was pretty proud of it, to tell you the truth."

"Come on then, Wormtail," Remus said, throwing his arm over his shoulder (stooping down in order to make it possible), "You, Sirius and I will go get you a celebratory drink."

"Bugger off," Sirius whined as he took the seat next to Lily. "I think I deserve a rest after that."

"_Sirius_," Remus said with much less subtlety than usual, "Leave James and Lily _alone_, and come and get a _drink_." He paused and raised his eyebrow before Sirius caught on. He winked at James then kissed Lily's hand, playing gentleman, before draping his arm around Peter's other shoulder and wandering off towards the drinks table.

"That was quite a performance you gave there," James said, eyeing Lily.

"Why thank you, Mr Potter," Lily replied as she placed down her mask she'd been holding in her hand. She replaced it with her glass of Firewhiskey and took a sip. "Where have you been all night, anyway? I haven't seen you."

"You were looking for me?"

"I didn't say that," she retorted smoothly, but her eyes glinted.

"Well as you can probably tell, it doesn't take much to get Peter drunk, so I was upstairs holding his hair back and then cleaning up his mess."

"Aw, James Potter the house wife," Lily said, sipping her drink again, smiling.

"I'm hardly house wife material, believe me."

"Oh, I know," Lily said plainly. "I've lived with you for the past six years and I can safely say none of you are wife material, except perhaps Remus."

"I agree," James said grinning. "He's quite adorable."

Both of them giggled slightly before sighing. They looked up and their eye caught, and both of them kept hold for maybe slightly too long.

"You look beautiful tonight, Lily."

Lily smiled. "You're not going to try to ask me out again like you did in fifth year, are you?"

"No," James said honestly.

"Well then, you don't look too bad yourself."

"Did you just compliment me?" James said as he held his hand over his heart, mocking shock. "Did _Lily Evans_ just compliment _James Potter_?"

"Why do you have to be such a prat?"

"You mean why do I have to be such a witty, attractive, muscular, hilariously funny prat?"

"That's one way of putting it," Lily sighed, and James' eyes gleamed.

"Was that _another_ compliment?" he said, leaning forwards. "I hope someone's noting this down because this will go down as a first in history. I may just have to announce this to everyone."

She giggled again before leaning past him to pick up his glass, which also contained Firewhiskey. As she moved, she placed her hand on James' leg to stabilise herself and her apple scented hair drifted too close to his face for him to contain his reaction. A large smile took over his face and as Lily leaned back, it didn't go unnoticed.

"What are you smiling at?"

"I've missed sitting and talking to you."

"James, I talk to you almost every day."

"Only in class or at Head meetings. I don't think I've sat down and actually talked to you properly in about a month."

Lily considered this for a moment and realised he was right. Sure, she saw him every day and they had mundane, necessary conversations multiple times a day, but they hadn't engaged in a proper conversation in a long while, and she came to the realisation that, for some reason, this bothered her.

"I've missed you."

James glanced up at her to see her focusing entirely on him, and her face seemed too serious for her to be joking.

"I've missed you too," he said, slightly unsure. "I think a Hogsmeade trip is in order soon, don't you think?"

He thought for a second before adding: "As friends, of course."

Lily found herself smiling. "Definitely."

They sat without speaking for a long moment, just looking at each other, before James shook himself and stood up.

"Come on then, Evans, lets get you another drink."

Lily looked up at him and smiled, and when he smiled back she felt a soft flutter in her stomach. It was the same flutter she'd experienced for the past few months, but it seemed so much stronger now.

He extended out his arm and she took it immediately, putting her weight on it slightly so she could help herself up. They then proceeded to the drinks table and continued with their night.

* * *

It was gone two in the morning, and Lily knew she was far more drunk than she should have been. Her and Marlene were amongst the last twenty that remained from the party and they were all up and dancing still. As she danced, someone walked in and caught her eye, and she found herself looking at James for what it felt like the millionth time that night, and once again, found herself smiling and her tummy squirming.

He was much more disheveled now that he had been earlier in the night; his bow tie was hanging around his neck, his glasses were slightly squint and his hair was a mop of black mess that was sticking up even more than usual. He smiled goofily at Lily, but was distracted seconds later by Sirius and Remus, who both jumped on him causing them all to fall to a heap on the floor.

Lily laughed for a moment before something, something she knew she'd been avoiding, clicked solid in her brain. Suddenly, her face fell and she turned quickly to Marlene.

"Mar, will you come to the toilet with me?"

"Course," she said, and her brows furrowed in concern.

They both turned and half-ran out the room, skirting around the boys in order to leave. As the girls fled past, James caught sight of them. Neither of them had their heels on anymore so it was slightly easier to run to the bathroom situated on the first floor, despite their intoxicated state, but they were disappointed to find it locked.

"Lily, what's wrong?"

"Marlene, I don't know what to do."

Marlene took Lily's arm and squeezed slightly. "Come on, Lily. What's happened?"

"You're going to think I'm so stupid, and I just _know_ you'll say "Ooooh, I told you so!" but I really don't care anymore because I don't think I can hold it in anymore, and I don't see any reason why I should! I just don't know how I'm meant to tell him because I know he'll just _kill_ me for not realising it earlier but just looking at him smile at me and how it makes me feel made me realise and-"

"Lily!" Marlene shouted, stopping her dead in the middle of her ramble. "What are you talking about?"

"I think I might be in love with James," she blurted out.

As the words slipped over her lips and from the safety of her brain, she realised what she'd said and threw her hand to her mouth. She knew she felt it, and she knew she wasn't lying, but having only realised that that's what it really was moments ago, saying it out loud to Marlene made the revelation hit her like a tonne of bricks. Even though Lily knew she could trust Marlene with her life, admitting to her that she was in love with the person she'd adamantly denied for months was still one of the scariest things she'd ever done.

_One_ of the scariest things.

"You really mean that?"

Lily spun round so fast that her head buzzed, but once she caught his eyes with hers, there was no chance she could look away. She stood there foolishly, staring into James' eyes without moving for what seemed like eternity before nodding her head clumsily.

James waited for a moment so he could take in everything about her: how small she seemed now without her heels on, how wild her hair had become from dancing and how flushed her cheeks were - probably due to either drink or embarrassment, but most likely a combination of both. He noticed how bright her emerald eyes shone when she was scared, but also how convincing they'd seemed when she'd nodded her head, and how completely perfect she looked stood there vulnerable in front of him.

James waited for a moment so he could take in everything about her, and then when that short lived moment was over, he rushed forwards, placed his one hand on her face and one hand at the base of her back before he pressed his lips to hers.


End file.
